Potato-digger.



No. 665,939. Patented Jan. I5, 1901 P. SCHURMAN.

POTATO .DIGGER.

(Application filed Apr. 4, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

No. 665,939. Patented Ian. 45, I90l.

P. SCHURMAN. I

POTATO BIGGER.

(Application filed Apr. 4; 1900.)

(No Model.) 2 SheetsShaet 2.

g M ,PelvrS Snow wot UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER SOHURMAN, OFISUMMERSIDE, CANADA.

POTATO-DIGGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 665,939, dated January15, 1901.

Application filed April 4, 1900. serial No. 11,513. LNo model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PETER SCHURMAN, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, residing at Summerside, in the Province of Prince Edward Islandand Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Potato-Digger, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in potato-diggers; and myobject is to produce an agricultural implement of this character whichwill efiectually turn down and compress the stalks of the plants toprevent their interference with the operation of the machine, which willefiectually dig the potatoes from the ground and separate them from theearth, and which by reason of certain peculiarities of construction willbe readily adaptable to the character of ground desired to be worked,and which, moreover, will be less liable to derangement than othermachines of like character with which I am familiar.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing objects and others subordinatethereto my invention consists in mounting the frame of the machine on apair of supporting and driving wheels and in suitably mountingin saidframe a scoop, a screen or separator leading from the scoop, and anendless pulverizer and conveyer driven by the rotation of the supporting-wheels and arranged to pulverize the earth and convey the separatedpotatoes from the scoop and overthe separating-screen to be deposited ina row at the rear of the machine.

The invention further consists in the provision of cleaning-rods orstalk-guards intermediate of the conveyor and screen and in mountingaclearingand compressing device for instance, a shoe or rollerin front ofthe scoop in a manner to properly lay the stalks of the potatoes orother vegetation and compress them immediately before they enter thescoop, this feature of the invention being desirable in order to preventthe standing and sometimes twisted stalks from interfering with theoperation of the conveyer.

Further peculiarities of construction and arrangement will appear morefully hereinafter, and the entire device will be illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of mydevice complete. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section therethrough.Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the screen andconveyer, showing the relative arrangement of the cleaning-rods orstalk-guards.

Referring to the numerals of reference indicating corresponding parts inthe several views, 1 indicates the frame of my machine, of any suitableconstruction, but preferably rectangular in shape and comprising sidebars 2, end bars 3, and transverse bars 4, connecting and bracing theside bars of the frame. From the forward end of the frame extends, asusual, the tongue-socket 5, suitably braced, and within which ispivotally mounted, as upon a bolt 6, a draft-tongue 7, which is madeadjustable to efiect the tilting of the frame in a manner to bedescribed by means of a vertical rack 8, engaged by the lower end of atilting lever 9, designed to be retained in its adjusted position bymeans of a springlatch 10, engaging a segmental or circular toothed rack11. The frame thus constructed is supported at a point intermediate ofits length by a transverse shaft 12, carried in suitablebearing-brackets 13, depending from the frame and provided withratchet-disks 14, designed to be engaged by pawls 15, carried by thehubs of the supporting and driving wheels 16, mounted upon the ends ofthe shaft 12. By means of this arrangement the device may be backedwithout causing the rotation of the shaft 12, inasmuch as the pawls onthe hubs will ride idly over the teeth of the ratchet disks; but whenthe machine is drawn forward the pawls will engage the teeth and causethe rotation of the shaft 12 to effect the actuation of the operativeelements of the device in a manner to be described.

Below the forward end of the frame 1 is tiltably suspended the potatoscoop or shovel 17 by means of arms 18, diverging upwardly from the rearend of the scoop and pivotally supported by the side bars 2 of the framea suitable distance in front of the shaft 12, as by means of bolts 19.The upper ends of the arms 18 are extended somewhat above their pivotalpoints and are adjustably retained by suitable clamping devices 20,carried by the side bars and designed to retain the scoop in the desiredposition by the retention of the upper ends of the scoop-supportingarms.

21 indicates what might be termed a of parallel horizontally-disposedand slightly sizes.

upwardly inclined slats or bars 22, having their forward ends curved andrestin g'in 'or otherwise supported in proximity to the scoop andsupported at their rear ends by an ad-' justable screen-supportingbracket 23, comprising a transverse bar, upon which the screen-barsrest, and upwardly-extending slotted hangers 24, designed to beadjustably retained by compression-bolts 25, carried by the side barsadjacent to their rear ends and extending through the slots of thehangers. By means of the adjustment of this screensupporting hanger therear end of-the screen or separator may be raised or lowered to ob} tainthe desired inclination of the screen forj the purpose of adjusting itrelatively to thef conveyer 26 in order to accommodate ground 2 of anycharacter and potatoes of varying; This endless conveyer 26 is arrangedin horizontally-inclined relation tothe frame? by being supported uponpolygonal conveyer: wheels or drums 27, mounted adjacent to the innersides of the side bars 2 upon transverse j conveyer-shafts 28 and 29,journaled in suitable bearing-boxes 30 and 31, located ad ja-j cent tothe opposite ends of the frame andati the upper and lower edges,respectively, of

the side bars, one of these shafts, preferably the upper shaft 28, beingprovided with a fixed sprocket-wheel 32, geared by a sprocketchain 33with a driving sprocket-wheel 34, preferably of greater diameter thanthe sprocket 32 and keyed or otherwise secured upon the shaft 12 at anysuitable point. It will therefore be seen that the propulsion of thedevice will effect the rotation of the shaft 12 and will cause theconveyer-drums to be rotated for the purpose of imparting motion to theendless conveyer 26.

The specific construction of the conveyer may be varied, provided itsarrangement is such that the portion traveling over the screen orseparator will carry the potatoes and earth rearwardly from the scoop. Iprefer, however, to construct the conveyer as shown in the drawings, inwhich form a series of metal links 35 are connected in a mannerto permittheir transverse bars 36 to engage peripheral recesses 37 in the drums27, alternate links being provided with transverse pin-slats 38, fromwhich extend a-series of prongs or pins 39, which as the conveyertravels rearwardly over the separator extend between the bars22 andserve to pnlverize the earth and convey the potatoes to the rear end ofthe screen, from which they are deposited in a row, the pulverizedearthgravitating between the slats.

In devices of this character it sometimes happens that stalks of thepotatoes or-of other vegetation-as, for instance, weedswill be depositedupon the conveyer by thescoop and will clog or at least retard theprogress of the conveyer by becoming intertwined with the conveyer-teethand possibly with the bars of the screen. This objectionable result Ipropose to eliminate by the employment of a series of stalk-guards orcleaning-rods 40, arranged in transverse series and extended under thelower portion of the conveyer in alternate .arrangement'with the teethor prongs 39 and having their opposite ends curved upwardly andconnected in any suitable manner to the end bars 3 of the frame. Thus asthe stalks are urged rearwardly by the conveyer they are prevented frombecoming entangled in the operative parts, and as the conveyor risesfrom the screen at the rear end of the machine the teeth or prongs aredrawn upwardly between the guards 40, and any vegetation or otherdebriswhich may be adhering to said pins will be removed and deposited in therear of 'the machine. This arrangement is quite effective for the clearing of the teeth; but in order to properly lay .and compress the stalksin advance of the scoop, as well as to guide the latter over anyabruptconstruction, I provide the stalk laying and-compressing device orshoe 41, which is preferably a substantially flat metal plate havingitsfront and side edges turned up and supported in front of the scoop bya pair of rearwardly-inclined brace-rods 42, pivotally-connected attheir lowerends to the shoe, and by slotted hangers 43, likewisepivotally connected tothe shoe at its rear end and designed to have freelongitudinal movement, which is accommodated'by pins 44, projecting fromthe socket and passed through the slots of the hangers. By this meansthe shoe will be permitted to yield vertically unless it .meets with anunusual obstruction, in which event the hangers having reached theupward limits of their movement will cause the frame to be tilted andthe scoop to be raised to prevent the derangement of the latter.

45 indicate a pair of upwardly and forwardly diverging stalk-guidescarried at the front end of the shoe and having their front ends bentdownwardly to bring them into close proximity tothe ground for thepurpose of laying and properly arranging the vegetation in order that itmay be properly compressed by theshoe before being thrown back upon thescreen orseparator by the action of the scoop.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have produced a simple andefficient potatodigging machine by means of which potatoes or the likemay be removed from the ground, properly separated from the soil, anddepositedat the rear of the machine; but while the present embodiment ofmyinvention appears at the present time to be preferable I do not wishto limitmyself to the structural details defined, but reserve the rightto effect such changes, modifications, and variations as maycomeproperly within the scope of the protection prayed.

What I claim is- 1. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame andwheels, of an adjustable scoop carried by the frame, a screen having itsfront end extended loosely into the scoop, a conveyer mounted in theframe, and a screen-adjusting device adjustably carried by the frame andsupporting the rear end of the frame to effect the adjustment of thelatter toward or from the conveyer.

2. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame andsupporting-wheels, of an adjustable scoop carried by the frame, a screencomposed of a transverse series of longitudinallydisposed parallel barssupported at their forward ends by the scoop, an adjustable hangercomprising a transverse bar adj ustably supporting the rear end of thescreen, an endless conveyer mounted in the frame and provided with pinsdesigned to travel between the bars of the screen, and means foractuating the conveyer from the supporting-wheels.

3. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame and an endlessconveyor provided with transverse series of pins, of stalk-guards passedunder the conveyer between the pins and connected at their opposite endsto the frame.

4:. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame andsupporting-wheels, of an endless conveyer operatively connected withsaid wheels and comprising transverse series of pins, stalk-guardspassed under the conveyer intermediate of the pins and connected attheir opposite ends to the frame, a scoop adjustably carried by theframe, a screen or separator in operative relation to the conveyer andcomprising longitudinally-disposed bars supported at their forward endsby the scoop, and means for efiecting the adj ustment of the rear end ofthe screen.

5. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame andsupporting-wheels, of a scoop, separating mechanism behind the scoop,and a flat vertically-yielding shoe supported by the frame in front ofthe scoop to compress the vegetation in advance of the scoop butyielding vertically to prevent breakage.

6. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame andsupporting-wheels, of a scoop, separating mechanism, a heavy fiat shoelocated in front of the scoop and means for loosely supporting the shoeimmediately in front of the scoop in a manner to effect the compressionof the vegetation under the weight of the shoe, and divergentstalk-guards extending from the front of the scoop.

7. In a potato-digger, the combination with a frame and scoop, of aheavy flat shoe yieldingly supported by the frame immediately in frontof the scoop, and divergent stalk-guards located at the front of theshoe and provided with downwardly-bent ends.

8. A shoe for potato-diggers comprising a flat plate having upturnedfront and side edges and diverging stalk-guards located at the front endof the shoe and provided with downwardly-bent ends.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aifixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PETER SOHURMAN.

Witnesses:

GEo. GoDKIN, E. B. WILLIAMS.

